Charaideo Moidams, burial mounds of Ahom royalty, now included in list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma, reacting to the news, said: “The Moidams make it to the UNESCO World Heritage list under the category Cultural Property – a great win for Assam… It is the first time a site from the North East has made it to the UNESCO World Heritage List under the Cultural Category and after Kaziranga and Manas National Parks, it is Assam’s third World Heritage Site.”

What are Moidams?

The site, set in the foothills of the Patkai Ranges in Assam, contains the royal necropolis of the Tai-Ahom. Ninety moidams — hollow vaults built of brick, stone or earth — of different sizes are found within the property. As per a statement on the UNESCO website, for 600 years, the Tai-Ahom created these moidams accentuating the natural topography of hills, forests and water, thus forming a sacred geography.

Till date, the World Heritage Committee has inscribed 1,199 sites in 168 countries on the list. India has 43 of its sites on the list.

A moidam is a tumulus — a mound of earth raised over a grave — of Ahom royalty and aristocracy. In Assam, while Charaideo contains ones of Ahom royals, other moidams of aristocrats and chiefs can be found scattered across the eastern part of the state, between Jorhat and Dibrugarh.

Ahom kings and queens were buried inside these moidams. Unlike Hindus who cremate their dead, the predominant funerary method of the Ahoms, originating from the Tai people, was the burial. The height of a moidam is typically indicative of the power and stature of the person buried inside. However, except for those of Gadhadhar Singha and Rudra Singha, most moidams remain unidentified.

Inside the chambers of the moidam, the dead king would be buried along with items he needed for the “afterlife”, as well as servants, horses, livestock and even their wives. It is the similarity of the Ahom burial rites with that of the ancient Egyptians that give Charaideo moidams the moniker of “Pyramids of Assam.”

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